Not ready by Christmas? Sell the wait.

Build your early bird offer

Three parts, the same as Kenner's: something to open now, the real thing later, and a date to buy by. Everything updates as you type.

2. Your pre-order section

Paste it on your shop page, in an email or a post. It states the buy-by date, the ship-by date and the refund line up front.

3. Before you launch

• Keep the wait short. Kenner's package promised delivery "between February 1 - June 1, 1978"; by December its ad said "by February 15". A 7-year-old told a reporter in March 1978: "I had to wait too long."
• Put the ship-by date in writing. In the US, the FTC's Mail, Internet, or Telephone Order Merchandise Rule expects you to ship within the time you state (or within 30 days if you state none). If you can't, tell buyers and give them the option to cancel for a prompt refund.
• Make the thing to open now worth opening. Kenner's envelope held a certificate, a display stand, stickers and a club card. A gift receipt alone feels like a promise; a small object feels like a gift.
• Give a real reason to buy early. Kenner's letter to stores: the child receives the figures "before any other child in his locale". Yours can be first delivery, today's price, or a bonus.
• Set a buy-by date and keep it. Kenner's package was not to be sold after December 31, 1977. A deadline you quietly extend teaches buyers to wait.
• Deliver early-bird buyers first. Kenner shipped to certificate holders from mid-January 1978; stores got the toys in early February.

General information, not legal advice. Check the rules where you sell.

Kenner's 1977 move, mapped

Every claim in the video, with its source. We don't reproduce Kenner's or Lucasfilm's package art; the collector archives below show the real thing.

1. Spring 1977

   The licence, and no time

   Star Wars is the most popular film of the year. Kenner, the only licensee, completes its licence that spring (April per the Chicago Daily News; "last May" per Kenner's spokesman). Most toys take 12 to 15 months to develop.

   Chicago Daily News, in the Raleigh Register (Beckley, W.Va.), 16 Nov 1977, p. 16 (clipping); New York Times News Service, "Yule Gifts in Time for Easter", Milwaukee Journal, 12 Dec 1977 (scan, Google News Archive)

2. Fall 1977

   An envelope with no toy inside

   The Early Bird Certificate Package: a mail-in certificate good for 4 figures, a display stand, a club membership card and stickers. The strip on the front: not to be sold after December 31, 1977.

   The package (stock no. 38140) and Kenner's 1977 catalog entry: Star Wars Collectors Archive (archived copy)

3. Fall 1977

   The pitch to stores: two gifts in one

   Kenner's letter to retailers: the child immediately receives lots of exciting Star Wars materials ... and in February receives before any other child in his locale four (4) authentic Star Wars Figures. In reality, two (2) gifts in one. And: Your child can be one of the first in his neighborhood.

   Kenner's 3-page introductory letter, photographed in the SWCA blog, 13 Jan 2023

4. Nov - Dec 1977

   Some stores said no

   Marshall Field's toy buyer refused it: We feel a child would like to get a gift at Christmas, not a certificate. Shelf prices varied ($7.88 at Toy World, $9.99 at Copps; "between $8 and $10"); press reports put it at up to $15.

   Chicago Daily News (as above); store ads reproduced in the SWCA blog; NYT News Service, 12 Dec 1977

5. December 1977

   It sold out

   One of the hottest selling toys this Christmas may not be a toy at all, but the promise of one. Kenner is selling a certificate costing up to $15 ... And the certificates are sold out. Kenner's 11 Dec ad: Be the first to get delivery of 4 Star Wars figures by February 15, 1978.

   NYT News Service, Milwaukee Journal, 12 Dec 1977 (scan); the ad: SWCA (archived)

6. Jan - Mar 1978

   Delivered first, counted after

   Shipments to certificate holders began in mid-January; stores got the toys in early February. Kenner's president put the certificate holders at several hundred thousand. Kenner's spokesman: Chances are, it will never be done again.

   Mike Duffy, Knight-Ridder, "Toy Caper", The Evening Independent, 9 Mar 1978 (scan, Google News Archive)

Our read: nobody was buying plastic. They were buying being first, before a deadline. The deadline is a fact; how much it drove the sell-out is our take, not Kenner's.